Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Weekending - Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities. I have spent numerous weekends there - visiting friends, attending the festival, going to a wedding - and every time I visit I always think "next time I'm here, I definitely need to..." I visited for a 3-night stay recently, and here are my highlights...

* We stayed in the Nira Caledonia, which is one of my favourite hotels. The breakfast can be included in your stay and is totally worth the price.

* We had dinners at La Favorita and Wedgwood - the former being a more casual affair serving pizza and pasta, and the latter being perfect for a special occasion (i.e. my birthday!)

* We had lunch at The Grain Store, which has a £12.50 / £15 set-menu at lunchtimes. Absolute steal, especially for Southerners like me!

* We spent Saturday evening at Bond no. 9, which serves delicious and interesting cocktails as well as some cute options for bar snacks (we had haggis bon-bons, of course)

* A couple of times during the weekend we found ourselves in the middle of Princes Street, needing a wine-break away from noisy crowds. On both occasions we made our way to The Balmoral Bar at the Balmoral Hotel - a touch on the pricey side but the drinks are high-quality so you could definitely do worse on Princes Street.

* Even though the weather was a 'touch' on the rainy side, we sucked it up and trekked to the top of Arthur's Seat. Was a lovely way to while away a couple of Birthday hours!

* I've flown up to Edinburgh a few times, but this time it worked out cheaper and easier to get the train. We went up at a popular train time so upgraded to first class (only £20 extra I believe) but stuck with standard class on the way back and kept ourselves happy by bringing a train picnic with us (you can always improve a train journey with cheese and red wine, that is just a fact of life.)

Edinburgh is such a lovely city there is always something to occupy yourself with. Our trip was mainly eating, drinking, walking and exploring, and suited us down to the ground.